Technically, a cinemagraph is just a gif—one of those animated web files that repeatedly replays as a short piece of video created from dozens of still shots layered on top of each other.

The innovation with a cinemagraph is that most of the image remains still, and only a piece of it moves. The result is a gif of much higher quality, within which is a subtle, often haunting piece of movement.

Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck, the creative team behind Cinemagraphs. Cinemagraph.com Cinemagraphs are particularly suited to Twitter and Tumblr, because people like to share the good ones.

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Gilt Taste

This image below was designed for a Gilt Taste series of cinemagraphs, also by the Beck and Burg, and demonstrates the level of research and thought the pair put into each photoshoot — always looking for the tiny bits that are "alive" in a photo, such as the small drops of dew falling from the tomatoes.